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**Init(** //controls, mode //**)**

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| **Init** | Initializes the StepStringClass object. |
| //controls// | An integer constant, variable, EQUATE, or expression that contains several important pieces of information for the StepClass object. |
| //mode// | An integer constant, variable, EQUATE, or expression that determines the data distribution points (or steps) the StepStringClass object implements. |

The **Init **method initializes the StepStringClass object.

The //controls// parameter identifies for the StepClass object:

·the characters included in the calculated runtime distribution

·whether the key is case sensitive

·the direction of the sort (ascending or descending)

A //mode //parameter value of ScrollBy:Name gives U.S. surname distribution, ScrollBy:Alpha gives English alphabet distribution, and ScrollBy:Runtime gives a smooth data distribution from the poles of the actual data, as calculated by the SetLimit method.

**Implementation:**

The Init method sets the value of the Controls and LookupMode properties. Set the value of the Controls property by adding together the applicable EQUATEs declared in ABBROWSE.INC as follows:

** ITEMIZE,PRE(ScrollSort)**

**AllowAlpha    EQUATE(1)  !include ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ**

**AllowAlt      EQUATE(2)  !include `!"£$%%^&*()''-=_+][#;~@:/.,?\|**

**AllowNumeric  EQUATE(4)  !include 0123456789**

**CaseSensitive EQUATE(8)  !include abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz**

**Descending    EQUATE(16) !the sort is descending**

** END**

EQUATEs for the //mode //parameter ared declared in ABBROWSE.INC as follows:

**    ITEMIZE,PRE(ScrollBy)**

**Name    EQUATE     !US Surname distribution**

**Alpha   EQUATE     !English alphabet distribution**

**Runtime EQUATE     !calculate normal distribution from data poles**

**    END**

**Example:**

** MyStepStringClass.Init(ScrollSort:AllowAlpha+ScrollSort:AllowNumeric)**

** !program code**

** MyStepStringClass.Kill**

**See Also:**     [[controls  the stepclass sort sequence .htm|StepClass.Controls]], [[lookupmode  expected data distribution .htm|LookupMode]], [[setlimit  set smooth data distribution stepstringclass .htm|SetLimit]]